Snippets of Arcadia
by Fabius Maximus
Summary: Snippets, concepts and short stories set in the Tales of Arcadia Setting.
1. Chapter 1

Claire watched as Jim was marched to the deeps. _They're going to kill him. My boyfriend. The man who _saved_ my brother. And he's not even a troll. _

Jim had never asked for this. None of them had. And now he was being judged for saving a human.

Saving her brother. Claire had made her preparations, but she hadn't said anything. She hadn't wanted to do this. But…

"Stop!" she shouted.

"The judgment has been made, human. You have no say in this." Usurna smirked down at her.

Claire felt like she was about to piss herself. But she forced any tremors out of her voice. "What about the United States government. Or the United Nations. Because if you send Jim down there, _they'll_ know about it."

Suddenly, the room became absolutely silent.

"We've helped you, we've fought for you, we've _bled_ for you. My brother was taken because of _your war_." Claire said, her fury boiling up, overwhelming any fear she felt. "And now you want to sentence Jim to death! No. Not unless you want a bigger war than even Gunmar could give you."

"You do not have that power," Usurna said. "You're just a child."

"Who has been collecting information since this trial _started. _Who has emails and letters ready to go, especially if we _don't come back,_" Claire snarled back. "How many of you know about the Internet? How many trolls know enough to avoid cell phones and cameras?" She smiled. "And even if they don't believe me fully, there's enough information that they'll check, and what do you think the world will do, the moment they find out about the trolls who _eat humans_." Claire looked around at the frozen room. "Jim never asked for this. None of us did. He has saved Trollmarket not once, but twice, and _this_ is the thanks he gets?"

"Claire—don't—"

"Jim, no! This is no time for you to be self-sacrificing. That almost killed you when you saved Enrique." She looked up at Usurna. "Here's how its going to be. We leave. Forever. We're done with you and you're done with us. If anything happens to us, you get to read about the trolls on the front page of the New York Times, and the next people to come visit won't be nearly as polite."

"You _dare,_" Usurna's voice was a hiss.

"I dare," Claire quietly said. She pulled out the horngazel and let it fall to the ground. "And _you_ have a decision to make."

"You are banished—" Usurna seemed barely able to form words in her fury. "You will be killed on site if you ever return to trollmarket, and any troll who so much as acknowledges your name shall be treated as a traitor. You are _cast out!_"

Claire new trollish, and the words were far more than what they sounded like in English. It was as close to a formal excommunication as a troll could get, a punishment _worse_ than death. The trolls turned away. Those who had supported them, who had been their friends, hesitated, and then, shame on their faces, they too turned again. Vendel paused, shook his head.

"So be it," the elder troll said. "I cannot fault your decision, fair Claire. Farewell." And with that, he turned.

"I—"

Claire looked at Blinky and Aaarrrgggghhh. "You know what you have to do."

"I cannot."

"But you must." Claire shook her head, and walked to Jim's cage, struggling with the locks, until a stunned Toby came to help her. Their two closest friends were still looking at them.

"We've been cast out," Claire said. "But it's worth it. Good bye, Mr. Blinky."

"No…" Jim said. "I am…I have to be the trollhunter."

Blinky took a shuddering breath. "But you cannot be one here. Usurna will kill you if you remain. There have been cases of this in the past—the trollhunter was exiled, and we simply awaited the return of his amulet, though never for such a petty reason." He looked up at the ranked trolls. "Master Jim, I believe I shall accompany you—"

"Me too," Aaarrrggghhh said.

"But you couldn't—Blinky, that's centuries! You'll be exiled even after we're dust!" Claire burst out. She hadn't expected _that._

"I find the company here to be less than congenial," Blinky said. "I will not miss it, and there are trollish communities that do not heed Usurna's rulings. Regardless, we best be off."

"Right."

"But without the horngazel…" Jim fell silent as Claire summoned a portal.

"It's too my room. I have an anchor, and believe me," she looked around the chamber at the trolls, backs turned on them, many of them trolls Jim had _saved, "_I have _more_ than enough in the way of negative emotions now."


	2. The Torment of Tantalus

When Claire walked off with Jim, it was a match made in heaven.

And Claire thought so. But then, as the days turned to weeks, the weeks turned to months, she started noticing something else.

Oh, Jim loved her. No question about that. He was gentle when she desired it, strong when she needed it, and very, very passionate.

And yet he never hurt her, never lost track of his strength. Some women went through their lives without a man like Jim.

But as the months wore on, Claire found herself realizing that he lived in a world she _couldn't_ live in, not easily. In the days of the war, she was always on edge—and that protected her.

It was ironic that her worst injury underground came during peacetime—a friendly brawl that got out of hand, seeing a troll slamming into Claire when she was focusing on shopping.

Blinky's medicine managed to cure her shattered leg, and Claire spent most of the time biting her lip against the pain and convincing Jim to not murder her unwitting assailant (who was shocked and horrified that such a great warrior would be inconvenienced by such a little thing).

And it was then that she noticed the bruises. Up top, in college, her friends started wondering where she vanished to, and _they_ noticed the of them even brought her friend over, a _detective_, to kindly tell Claire that she wasn't the only woman who might be dealing with an abusive relationship.

What could Claire say? That they were merely the result of living in a realm full of animated rock beings, a world not designed for the fragile flesh of a girl, however courageous she was?

And Claire loved Jim, and he loved her. Even when it became plain that they would have no issue. Claire thought about adoption—but no adoption agency would even consider doing so without a full examination, and besides, if new Trollmarket could hurt _Claire_, the defeater of Morganna, what could it do to a child? No. Mom would have to wait for grandchildren from Enrique.

After their conversation, an entirely logical, calm, conversation, Claire waited until Jim had left on his rounds before she spent most of the night sobbing into her pillow. She had dreamed that one day she would hold their child. So had Jim. But no matter how unfair it was, some dreams weren't meant to be.

Claire took to wearing her armor. It protected her from bruises, but… Girding herself for battle just to go _shopping?_

Things got worse. At school, her grades were acceptable, but Claire's dreams started to fade. There wasn't time for a secret life, _and_ school,_ and_ the extracurricular activities that were so important to your post college career. But Claire kept up.

Even as her eyes started to gain shadows, and sometimes she stumbled or lost track of things, because trying to fit everything in was so difficult, but she couldn't tell Jim—because he had given up _everything_.She'd seen him, sitting back in the shadows, safe, watching the sunlit world and silently weeping for the touch of the sun that was so deadly to him.

Claire even went to Merlin, asking him, (secretly) if he could do to her what he did to Jim. Merlin refused. It turned out that without the amulet, the transformation would be less changing into a troll and more "melt into a screaming puddle of gore."

And so Claire remains by Jim's side. Realizes that a fulfilling life, be it in the sunlit surface or the underworlds may be forever out of her reach.

She never thought she'd ever find herself empathizing with Tantalus.

AN: Yes, Merlin may have helped Jim win the war, but there are far more "bad ends" to Jim and Claire from teh fallout than their are good ends.


	3. Revenant

When Mike came to his mentor's house he was shocked for a moment. It was empty, a few books lying around, but everything else, gone. Even the circles that Merlin had insisted must always be kept up were gone, the protective sigils on the walls looking like they had burned, charred into unrecognizable shapes.

"What…Merlin?" Mike called, a little out of breath. He'd been out of breath a lot since he'd been learning magic.

"He's gone."

Mike jumped in shock. Behind him there was a girl, wearing old fashioned clothing. She looked… About his age.

But there had been nobody in that part of the room, he was certain. "Who are you?"

"Claire. Just Claire." She stood up, and Mike lifted his hand, his integrated scanner activating.

Then he blinked. "You don't have a bodychip? But that's ill—"

"They were long after my time," she said softly. "Hold still." Her hand lanced out and grabbed his hand, and it was cold, cold…

"What—"

Then there was an odd snapping feeling,and suddenly Mike's chest felt a little better. "What did you do?"

"I freed you from Merlin. How do you _think_ an 'immortal' fuels his life, especially since Morganna no longer is an issue?"

"What, but Merlin's a—"

"Hero? A wizard manipulating the world to make it better?" Claire smiled at him. There was something odd about that smile. Something cold and frightening. "Than why does he leave nothing but destroyed lives in his wake? Who are you, by the way?"

"Mike Wilkes! I'm Merlin's apprentice."

"Well, Mike Wilkes, you are his _sacrifice_, or were. That cold would never have gotten better." She fell silent. "But you wouldn't have noticed and had you noticed—well, crusades always have victims."

"Who are you?!" Mike said.

"Did he tell you of the Eternal night and the Trollhunter of the battle with Morganna?"

"What were those? I mean, he said he fought Morganna and saved the world, but… none of that other stuff."

Claire stared at Mike. Then she shook her head. "Why am I unsurprised? Merlin never would share the light with any others. No, Mike the Apprentice, there were others. Myself, my love, my closest friend and we, along with the trolls fought Morganna and Gunmar and victory was achieved at a terrible cost. Merlin had us leave for a new heartstone…"

"Heartstone?"

"A source of healing and magic for Trolls—and a way to keep their minds sharp rather than reverting to their animal ways. There are no more. But Merlin knew that. He sent us to New Jersey, where he'd heard tell of a new stone." She fell silent, and once again, Mike was struck by how strange she looked. Then the girl started talking again. "I should have been worried. But I was happy, happy that my love, even if Merlin had _warped_ his body, would have a home, so I didn't ask how someone who had been asleep for hundreds of years would even know what New Jersey was, let alone why it held a heartstone. Maybe I was too busy being creeped out by how he _looked_ at me. If I had known what he'd done to Morganna, why she had been so brok—well, that's over."

"What happened?"

"There was no heartstone in New Jersey. The trolls had been as much his tools as anything else, and he no longer needed them—but didn't want to risk being known for who he truly was. A week after we left, some of the trolls started getting irrational, animalistic. J-my lover, controlled them. Others became sick, delirious, claiming that something cold was sucking their lives away. We stopped in a cave, a safe place so that Blinky would be able to research the issue—and then Merlin vanished.

"And a few days later, we learned why. The last Heartstone had been destroyed, but it had always been doomed, from the moment he imprisoned Morganna in it. And with that, the trolls, _all_ of them were doomed, doomed to become animals, to die, to lose their minds. We spent a month in that place, hearing how Arr—how some of our friends had chosen to expose themselves to the sun rather than be a danger. How others had been killed when they _became_ a danger. Jim cradled his father in his arms when he turned to stone. Blinky's last words were absolving him of his guilt. Jim needed that."

Mike stared. She was relating it like she might the weather. There was something off about this girl.

But she was telling the Truth. Mike didn't know how he knew, but he did.

"What happened after that?"

"Jim died, in my arms like his father had in his. We spent weeks down there, surrounded by the stone corpses of our friends, and I used every sorcery I could, but Jim died. I sealed the cave so that the bodies of my friends wouldn't be desecrated by vandals or teen explorers and I sat with my love."

"But you're here…I mean, so you left, right?"

"No." Claire said and her voice seemed to carry the weight of aeons with it. "I did not."

And suddenly, Mike realized what had been bugging him. Claire had only taken breaths when she talked. Other than that, she was completely still.

"I called upon the Powers that forged the earth in deep time, and swore that I would never move beyond the circles of the world, not until my friends were avenged, not until the oathbreaker, kinslayer, Merlin had been cast into the void."

Mike shivered. Because all of a sudden her clothes were turning translucent, her skin as well, revealing white bone underneath, and a pair of gleaming pinpoints of light stood in her eyesockets. The room was growing cold.

"And on that day," the thing sitting before him said. "He will find that a truly huge number of people have preceded him and _will_ have their justice."

"What about you?" Mike asked, trying to keep his teeth from chattering.

"I?" Claire smiled, and suddenly her skin was back. "I will return to where my skeleton yet lies, holding my love, the man who would have been with me for a life, who would have fathered my children, the man who was _cheated_ out of his life, and I will hold him again, and then pass away. Who knows, if the Powers are kind, I may see him again, feel his hand warm against mine. But _I_ am the only one who can speak for the unjustly slain, and _I_ shall have justice for them, whatever the price!" She stood up and looked at Mike. "Now flee this house, Mike, for you are no longer apprentice, and count yourself lucky, for none of Merlin's gifts come without a price. If you should see Merlin again, tell him that Claire Maria Nunez continues to pursue him, and however long it takes, at the end of the road I shall take his immortality, his fame, and his very memory out of this world—_So I swear!" _

And with that, there was neither girl nor skeleton, but a terrible figure that Mike's eyes reflexively avoided. To look at it, he somehow knew, would be death, or worse, and so he fled. Out the door, through the gates, onto his hover board—and before he hit the end of the street, eerie blueish flames were roaring up through the structure, hungrily clinging to every bit of wood and concrete.

Mike didn't stop until he got home, the sound of sirens dim in the distance. He stared at the folios of "homework" Merlin had given him, then shook his head and put them in the shredder. Tomorrow he'd go apologize to his friends that Merlin had been so oddly insistent about getting him away from.

But for tonight, he'd sleep, and pray he wouldn't dream about a girl whose bones remained in the dark, but who still walked the earth seeking her murderer.


	4. Claire the Wise

When they left Arcadia, Claire expected adventures. She didn't expect what happened. Many of the younger trolls had survived where their parents had died—too small to be of use to Gunmar, they had fled or hidden. But trollish teaching had always been an individual affair, and too many of the adults were also traumatized. So Claire found herself taking the youngest children in hand, telling them stories, troll lore and human lore that she picked up from second-hand bookstores on the long trip East.

Soon, she found herself working to make things more formal—there was only so much one teen could do, and Claire had always been organized. If Senor Uhl, Miss Janeth and Stricklander were surprised when they got her emails, they didn't show it, just sent her their own notes and suggestions.

And truth be told, there wasn't much need for a warrior in New Jersey, and her mystic training was of less use than the work she did with the orphaned trolls and their fellows. Claire found herself focusing on that, scavenging school desks, talking to some of the older trolls to help her on those issues where she herself was ignorant.

She didn't just teach them about Trollish history, but human matters as well. Claire saw no reason why they shouldn't know—and when the secret was unveiled, years later, there were trolls who knew more than their parents did about human culture.

Claire was in her twenties then, and suddenly all of her friends realized why she'd chosen teaching rather than acting. Claire didn't care. She had her husband, her family and a job that let her make a difference, far beyond simply slaying demons.

But now she also had to work with government officials on developing a curriculum to teach humans about trolls.

Claire rolled up her sleeves and pulled out the work she'd been doing over the years.

It was good work.

Many years later, when Claire passed away, surrounded by her children, grand children and great-grandchildren, a statue was erected to her memory in the Heroes Forge as one of the three great Trollhunters.

But where Toby bore a hammer, Jim bore a sword, the sculptors, many of whom remembered the fast-talking, serious girl who had gathered traumatized children around her on the long march to New Jersey, gave her a book in one hand and a glowstone in her other hand, raised up to beat the darkness away.

And forever more, she would be known to tolls as Claire the Wise, and to humans as St. Claire of the Book.


End file.
